Landscape of the Soul

(Nathalie Trouveroy)

QUESTION AND ANSWER

Q1. Contrast the Chinese view of art with the European view with examples.
Or
How is the western view of art different from the Chinese view?
The Western and the Chinese art form reflect contradictory views towards art. Whereas
the European art aims at achieving a perfect ‘illusion likeness’, the Chinese art views art
as the reflection of inner life and spirit. The European painter wants his audience to
look at the landscape drawn by him exactly how he sees it from a specific angle. The
Chinese painter, on the other hand, lets our eyes enjoy his art as per our subjective
inference.

Q2. What do painter Wu Daozi’s words ‘Let me show Your Majesty the way’ convey?
The painter’s words are reflective of the Chinese view of art which aims at projecting
the essence of inner life and spirit. The Emperor appreciates the painting only at the
physical level. He is not able to go beyond its material appearance. When the painter
requested the Emperor to let him the true meaning of his painting which lay beyond the
physical world, unravelling the mysteries of the ‘realm of the unknown’.

Q3. What significance role did the Chinese folk-lores play in its classical education?
The books of great maestros like Confucius and Zhuangzi are full of anecdotes that
highlight the Chinese view of art visualising it as an unravelling of the spiritual reality.
Such stories helped the masters to guide their disciples in the right direction.

Q4. Explain: ‘delicate realism’ and ‘illusionistic likeness’.

The creative impulse is the primary force in all works of art. It is the thrill of creation,
the excitement of making something new, which initiates the artist to tread the path of
creation. The motivation is always from ‘reality’ but he blends the reality with his own
illusions of the concept. The concepts ‘delicate realism’ and ‘illusionistic likeness’ in
fine-arts refer to the quality of the artist to present his illusions with a touch of reality
so that a common spectator can relate with it and appreciate and enjoy its aesthetic
beauty.
Q5. What is the western concept of ‘figurative painting’?
Figurative painting is the traditional form of western painting which stresses on the
relationship between an object or visual element and its background. The figure usually
dominates the ground, and the composition is relational one. It occurs in both
classically and dynamically balanced compositions. Many Indian artists like Tyel Mehta
and Manjit Bawa have adopted the genre in a modified way.

Q6. What does the term ‘conceptual space’ imply?

A good piece of art is never confined to the artist himself. Is has a life of its own which
lasts long after its creator is dead and forgotten. Instead of confining his art work to his
own visual imagination, the artist creates space giving dimensions to his creation from
where the spectator can enter and view and infer his art work from his own
perspective. The artist, thus leaves spaces letting the viewer participate in the art,
physically and mentally. Hence, the while unpainted space in Chinese landscape
becomes significant.

Q7. Explain the concept of ‘shanshui’.

‘Shanshui’ literally means ‘mountain-water’. Used together, mountain and water
represent the word ‘landscape’. Instead of representing two elements of an image, they
represent two complementary poles. The mountain is the ‘Yang’ which reaches
vertically towards Heaven, stable, warm and dry in the sun. The water, on the other
hand is ‘Yin’ – horizontal and resting on earth, fluid, moist and cool. The concept of
‘shanshui’ is close to the Daoist concept of Universal creation which is an outcome of
the interaction between ‘Yin’ the feminine aspect of universal energy and ‘Yang’ its
active and masculine counterpart.

Q8. When and where does Man acquire a fundamental role in the process of creation?
Or
What is the importance of Man between ‘Yang and ‘Yin’?
Universal creation is a result of a celestial interaction between ‘Yang’ symbolically
suggestive of ‘Heaven’ and ‘Yin’ suggestive of the cool and fertile ‘Earth’. However, the
point of interaction or the ‘Middle Void’ is important, for it is the point where the
interaction takes place. This is the point where meditation occurs giving a whole new
concept to universal creation. Man acquires a fundamental role at this point of ecstasy
for he becomes the mediator and communicator between the two poles of the
Universe.
Q9. What does the notion of ‘art brut’ or ‘raw art’ imply?
The concept refers to works of art that did not abound in highly sophisticated cultural
and artistic skills, but were amateur or in their raw state as regards cultural and artistic
influences. It involved a wide spectrum of material, for anything and anything from tin
to a sink or a broken down car could be used as a medium for this work of art. Mr. Nek
Chand, one of the greatest exponents of this art-form, has taken it to dizzying heights
with his incomparable Rock Garden in the creation of which he has actually lived his
dream.

Q10. What do you understand by the term ‘outsider art’?

The genre of ‘outsider art’ has been described as the art of such artists who have not
received any formal training, yet they show inherent talent and artistic insight. Outsider
art had a modest beginning in the 1940’s. However, today it is recognised as the fastest
growing area of interest in contemporary art.

Q11. How has Mr. Nek Chand been honoured internationally?

Or
Mr. Nek Chand’s art has won him international acclaim. Cite textual evidence in
support of this statement.
Mr. Nek Chand’s art has been lauded on the international level. The fiftieth issue
(Spring 2005) of ‘Raw Vision’, a UK based magazine pioneering in ‘outsider art’
publication, has featured Nek Chand and his Rock Garden sculpture ‘Women by the
Waterfall’ on the cover of its anniversary issue in recognition of his contribution to the
outsider art. The Swiss Commission for UNESCO has honoured him by organising a
European exposition of his works and an interactive show ‘Realm of Nek Chand’ at
leading museums in Switzerland, Belgium, France and Italy.

Q12. What is the title ‘Landscape of the Soul’ suggestive of?

Man is the most complex of God’s creations. Whereas all other animals live at the
‘physical’ level, man lives a dual life, both at the physical and the spiritual levels. His
physical self-views art for sensuous pleasure; however, his spiritual self looks beyond
the physical self. The little “Landscape of the Soul” is suggestive of that divine inner
beauty of man’s soul that ‘looks beyond’ the concrete world.